Improvement in boot and shoe tips



1). A. STUCKWELL Boot and Shoe Tips.

N'O 157J553 PatentedDec.8,l874.

WITNESSES- I mvy uq THE GRAPH: CD, PIHOTD'LITHBSQM'I PARK PLAOEJLY.

UNITED STATES rrron JOHN A. STOOKWELL, OF LYNN, ASSIGNOR TO THE STOOKWVELL SHOE-TIP COMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOT AND SHOE TIPS.

Specificationforming part of Letters Patent No. 157,553, dated December 8, 1874; application filed September 16, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. STocKwELL, of Lynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boots and Shoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in leather tips for boots and shoes, and is intended as an improvement upon the patent granted to me February 17, 187 4; and it consists in the peculiar manner of cutting the strip from which the. tip is formed, and in passing a wire around in its upper edge, so as to hold it in position, and prevent it from being crushed or broken down, as will be more fully described hereafter.

My patent of February 17 187 4, No. 147,579, describes the making of a shoe-tip from a strip of leather, one edge of which is skived off, so as to be materially thinner than the other, and to admit of being easily and accurately folded over. and down upon the other, so as to give a folded edge for the upper edge of the tip, which, when left raw, is much exposed to injury by wetting and otherwise.

In my practice under that patent I have found it desirable, in dealing with a pliable material, such as leather, to provide special means of holding the upper edge of the toepiece of the tip down upon the upper of the shoe. Moreover, in making shoetips of leath or or similar material, in which the toe-piece is made, as is very desirable with a folded edge, the thin part of the toe-piece, while being folded over upon the thicker part, is covered with paste to fasten it to the latter, and this paste I have found liable to be rubbed off, when a guide-piece is shoved up to the line where the fold is to be made, and then withdrawn as the folded parts are pressed together; and I have considerably improved the art of making these tips in this respect, as well as added to their stiffness and durability in use, by using for the folding guide either a Wire or cord, as before referred to, or a thin strip of any convenient material, which, like cord or wire, will, when held firmly up to the line of the intended fold, secure the turning of the thin part over that line, and which remains in the fold, and is incorporated with the completed shoe-tip. For the purposes of this one of my improvements I do not consider it important that the material used for the folding-guide should be cord or wire, or anything which, like them, will serve to brace and hold the upper edge of the toe-piece down upon the upper of the shoe, because a material too weak to answer that purpose will serve as well as they to give the requisite stiffness at the eX- act line where the fold is to be made, and, like them, lie afterward in the fold.

I now proceed to describe my mode of making shoe-tips with my said improvements, referring to the accompanying drawings: First, I take a straight strip, a, of leather or other material, and pass it into a splitting-machine, which bevels away the inner edges at c, and splits or bevels the outer edge at the same time. This strip is then passed into a machine, which places a small metallic wire, cord, or other material, 01, along its edge, and turns the edge down over the wire or other substance to hold it in position. The strip containing the wire is then died out in shape by a stamping-machine, which cuts out a piece, i, of suitable length and shape from the inner edge at the center, as shown in Fig. 2, the depth of the out being such that when the ends of the strip are bent around into shape the corners e reach to its center, as shown in Fig. 3. This same stamp or die may also cut the two notches 9 near the ends of the strip,

so that they can be turned in at the shank. The strip is then passed into a pressing or forming machine, and the edge 0, which is to extend up around and protect the toe, is turnel up, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The wire or cord cl serves not only to retain the tip in shape, but it holds it firmly against the upper, and prevents it from being broken down. By cutting out a piece from the edge of the strip, instead of notching it in three or more places, as shown in my former patent, the cut comes entirely inside of the seam. Where the notches are used they have to be cut so deep that they run through the line of stitching, and then the turned-up edge is liable to become loose and wrinkled at that point, and presents a bad appearance. By beveling the inner edges they can be moved inward, and lapped over without increasing the thickness at the point, and to make them the more readily conform to the width of the shoe to which they are being applied, without having to cut away from the edges when too wide. After the strip n has been cut and shaped it forms a combined tip or toe guard and half-sole.

I claim- A leather tip for shoes, having the center of the inner edge cut away, so that the stripcan be bent into proper shape, and having a wire or cord, (1, placed within its upper edge to hold it in position, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this l7th-day of August, 1874.

" JOHN A. STOOKWELL.

Witnesses:

FRANK GLAUDY, J. WILLIAM GARNER. 

